Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has come under fire after she announced the appointment of Australia’s first Parliamentary Secretary for Men’s Behaviour Change.
The new position has been pitched as part of the Allan government’s efforts to “make Victoria a safer place for women and children”, with the goal of helping end the scourge of the state’s women dying at the hands of men.
To achieve this, the government has given Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson a junior ministerial role focusing on “the influence the internet and social media have on boys’ and men’s attitudes towards women and building respectful relationships.”
The announcement faced ridicule from some on social media, with both men and women reacting with scorn.
“You have got to be kidding me,” a woman named Lizzy responded, while another named Sara asked, “Are you for f**king real???”
“Do you really despise men that much??? Have you actually observed women’s behaviour as well??? It goes both ways” Sara posted.
A male Twitter user described it as “an absolute joke” before accusing the Premier of “demonising men”.
“You’re serious? What an absolute joke. You are demonising men when a very small % are offenders and almost all them are people you’ve already let out on bail or are known to police already,” he said.
“Stop blaming all men. Start by fixing bail laws and keep offenders locked up. That will reduce violence in the community by a huge amount.”
In a social media post, Mr Richardson praised the creation of the role – calling it a “national first”.
“We know that the time to act on men’s violence against women is now and it starts with us men and boys,” Mr Richardson said.
“This is not easy work, but it is important, and we can’t afford not to address it and waste a moment.”
But some political and media figures were hostile to the idea.
Victorian Senator Jane Hume told Sky News AM Agenda host Laura Jayes the move “looks like window dressing”.
“If it is so important to this government… why is the position a parliamentary secretary’s role?” Senator Hume said.
“It does sound to me like a little bit of window dressing around a really important issue, that involves genuine cultural change.”
The Coalition Senator, who is also the shadow finance minister, said there are “a lot of experts out there that work in this field” but she doubts the new Parliamentary Secretary is one of them.
“And I’d like to see what this parliamentary secretary’s KPIs are, what’s he going to achieve and how is he going to achieve it?” she said.
“At the end of this term of government, what is it that they’re going to be able to hang their hat on and say, I did that?
“That would be really interesting to find out, because, quite frankly, I think we’d be better off with the Minister for change of government.”
Sydney radio host Ben Fordham also rubbished the idea, comparing it to “a kind of collective punishment” that would never be applied to other groups in society.
“Here’s what they won’t say: most men don’t go around bashing women. We despise men who do, they are considered the lowest of osociety, and when they go to prison, if they go to prison, they get what’s called jail justice,” the 2GB mornings host said.
“This from the Victorian Premier is just leaning into this kind of collective punishment that we’ve been seeing recently, treating all men like an enemy, instead of targeting the rotten bastards who harm women.
Fordham said this “warped way of thinking” would never be applied to other groups in society – pointing to several groups where domestic violence occurs at disproportionately high rates to illustrate the point.
“Did you know that domestic violence occurs at a higher rate in lesbian relationships? 41 per cent of female-identifying LGBTQ+ people say they’ve been a victim – 41 per cent. And the same figure for all women is 25 per cent,” the radio host said.
“And what about for Indigenous people? Indigenous women are 30 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence compared to non-indigenous women. Indigenous men, 23 times more likely to be hospitalized than non-Indigenous men.
“So what about a parliamentary secretary for Indigenous behaviour? Can you imagine?”
Fordham also noted that while Victoria has a Minister for Women they did not have a Minister for Men, despite men being overly represented in areas like suicide and workplace deaths.
“Forget the fact that seven Aussie men suicide every day, and they’re three times more likely to take their own lives,” he said.
“Who cares that men account for 93 per cent of deaths in the workplace. Who cares that men account for the vast majority of deaths in war.
“No, there’s no minister for men. But now Victoria has a Parliamentary Secretary for men’s behaviour change.”